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Article published In: Diachronica
Vol. 38:2 (2021) ► pp.189–209

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An information structure scenario for V2 loss in Medieval French

ORCiD logo with link | Normandie Université | Université de Caen Normandie, CRISCO
Published online: 1 February 2021
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.19040.lar
Abstract
This paper discusses word order change in Medieval French. Verb-second (V2) configurations are generally understood as having an initial XP and the verb in the left periphery. How has this configuration been lost in French? Under an Information Structure scenario, the XP is in initial position because of its characterized (discourse-old) informational value, which motivates the left-peripheral position of the verb. The decline of the characterized informational value of the XP thus accounts for the gradual loss of V2. The informational behaviour of XPs was examined in unambiguous V2 configurations with an overt post-verbal subject in Medieval French. This detailed quantitative study of a calibrated corpus shows that XPs with a characterized informational value were predominant with productive V2 configurations, that they gradually declined as productive V2 was lost, and that they increasingly failed to attract the verb to the left periphery. These observations can be accounted for if V2 in Medieval French was driven by informational values and if it disappeared along with the informational cues provided by the XPs.
Résumé
Cet article entend expliquer la disparition d’une configuration caractéristique du français ancien qu’est l’ordre des mots avec verbe en seconde position de la phrase (V2). L’hypothèse testée est que la construction est définie par la valeur informationnelle de l’élément initial précédant le verbe, et que c’est la perte progressive de cette valeur d’information ancienne qui amène celle de V2. L’examen détaillé de la structure à sujet postposé dans un corpus homogène de donnés légales normandes en prose montre la proportion déclinante des éléments initiaux à valeur d’information ancienne, et leur inaptitude progressive à amener la montée du verbe. La valeur informationnelle est donc définitoire de la construction V2 et explique sa disparition.
Zusammenfassung
Dieser Beitrag schlägt eine neue Erklärung für das Verschwinden der V2-Eigenschaft des Altfranzösischen vor. Ausgehend von der Annahme einer informationsstrukturellen Motivation der V2-Stellung wird die Hypothese formuliert, dass der zunehmende Verlust des spezifischen informationsstrukturellen Wertes des vorangestellten Elements (als gegeben) den Verlust der V2-Eigenschaft verursacht. Eine detaillierte Korpusanalyse von altfranzösischen VS-Konstruktionen (Gesetzestexte aus der Normandie) zeigt die Abnahme gegebener Initialkonstitutenten und entsprechend die Abnahme von Verbbewegungen an die 2. Satzposition. Dies belegt die informationsstrukturelle Motivation der V2-Stellung und erklärt ihr Verschwinden.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.V2 in Medieval French
  • 3.Predictions based on an informational account
  • 3.1Testing Prediction 1: Fewer informational XPs?
  • 3.2Testing prediction 2: Fewer informational phrases in left-peripheral position?
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • Resources
  • References
References (58)
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